First Person: Seeing America with Ensemble Galilei and Lily Knight

This powerful visual and aural performance event brings the evocative music of Ensemble Galilei together with projections of historical images by some of America's greatest photographers, and pairs it with the stirring words of Langston Hughes, Carson McCullers, Damon Runyan, John Muir, Frederick Douglass, and others as read by actress Lily Knight and NPR's Neal Conan. This stirring look back at the people, places and events that shaped our nation is set to original music by Ensemble Galilei, as well as selections by Bach and traditional Irish and Scottish tunes. The breathtaking pictures, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection, are the stunning works of famed artists Walker Evans, Edward Curtis, Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, Weegee and Thomas Eakins.

Reviews & Ratings

Featured review from Goldstar Member

This was our first time to the new Soka Performing Arts center. It was beautiful and there was not a single bad seat in the house.

Unfortunately though, during the portions of the show where the narration was going on, the mixing or acoustics or something was making her voice quite muffled and difficult to hear. Someone notified the House Manager at intermission about this, and the voice quality was much better afterward.

The stories told were intriguing and the music was amazing! We bought a CD , so we could hear more. Excellent show, and quite different than what is readily available these days!

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Description

First Person: Seeing America combines iconic photographs from The Metropolitan Museum of Art – searing pictures of the Civil War and haunting portraits from the Great Depression – with the music of Ensemble Galilei and narration by actress Lily Knight to create a remarkable and powerful performance.

Begin with the strength, diversity and depth of the photography collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art: photographs by Walker Evans, Edward Curtis, Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, Weegee and Thomas Eakins. Take those images and accompany them with the words of Langston Hughes, Carson McCullers, Damon Runyan, John Muir, Frederick Douglass, and others. The soundtrack is the evocative music of Ensemble Galilei – Bach, traditional music from Scotland and Ireland, and new compositions featuring fiddles, harp, viola da gamba, percussion, whistles and oboe.

Transcendent and soulful music winds around the text as high-resolution images are projected on a large screen in the center of the stage. In their second touring project with Ensemble Galilei, NPR’s Neal Conan and actress Lily Knight brilliantly bring people, events and places to life. What people! The haunted faces of rural Americans as they struggle to survive the Dust Bowl, indelible portraits of Native Americans. The events that shaped a nation – the Civil War, the Great Depression, the immigrant experience. And what places – from the sidewalks of New York to the majesty of Yosemite. Great photographers captured it all – hardship, war and despair, and the gritty determination of extraordinary people in a magnificent land. This is what these extraordinary photographers saw – _First Person: Seeing America. _